St. Come d'Olt to Estaing

We said goodbye to the convent of Malet, and headed into the medieval village of St. Côme d'Olt, had a look around and found our way through the maze of streets to the bridge across the river Lot, which was spectacular in the mists and early morning sun. We met a local man who warned us against going along the hills as we had planned, on account of a motorcycle race that had churned up all the paths into mud, so we took the road along the river. On arriving at Espalion, we discovered the 11th century Romanesque church of Perse, dedicated to saint Foy and saint Hilarian, who was beheaded by the Saracens. The church has particularly splendid vaulted ceilings. It was market day in Espalion itself, so we wondered around looking at the displays, and had a cup of coffee in a local cafe, before heading out over the pilgrim's bridge. Further on we came across another magnificent pink sandstone Romanesque chapel in the bell tower of a little church with a 12th century altar near the town of Bessuéjouls. It was there, on the other side of the riven, that we found the group of men who had been crossing our path for the entire journey so far! From there it was an uphill and downhill struggle to yet another church, where this time we met up again with some Swiss ladies we had seen previously. After a section on roads, we were glad to finally get to the Christian Hospice of Saint Jacques in Estaing where we were staying the night.